DMBLGIT February 2010 Announcement

Does My Blog Look Good In This is a monthly food photography event that is hosted by a different blogger every month. The administrator of the event is Andrew of and Spittoon and SpittoonExtra. It is open to all bloggers who have posted a photograph with a food or drink connection. Food bloggers submit their best photos from posts they completed during the previous month which are then judged and scored. Winners are made covering three categories (edibility, aesthetics, and originality) plus three overall winners.

This month I have the pleasure of hosting the DMBLGIT. Here is what you need to do to enter.

1)Send a photo that has appeared on your blog during January 2010. The photo should be food and/or drink related.
2)Your photo must be text-free, please.
3)Only one entry per person.
4)The photograph must have been taken by you (copyright is allowed).
5)Deadline for submissions : February 20, 2010.

Send your entry to snacksgiving[AT]gmail[DOT]com with DMBLGIT in the subject line with the following details:

- Your name.
- Your location.
- Your blog’s name and URL.
- The photograph that you wish to enter, of no more than 500 pixels wide.
- Your photograph’s title.
- URL of the post containing the photograph.
- Type of camera used, lens if you wish.
By submitting a photo, you agree to your picture being redisplayed and altered in size on the host’s page and on DMBLGIT page.

Judging
The judges will review your entries on the basis of:
- Aesthetics: composition, food styling, lighting, focus, etc.
- Edibility: “Does the photo make us want to dive in and eat the food?”
- Originality: the photograph that catches our attention and makes us want to say wow!, displaying something we might not have seen before.
I will be announcing the judges in a separate post so stay tuned!!

From these categories, the judges will come up with:
- Overall Winner: top overall scores in all three categories combined.
- There are three overall winners for photographs with the highest point totals in all three categories combined, and one winner in each of the three individual categories.

Gallery
Every photo entry will be compiled on DMBLGIT February 2010 photo album.
Update: The photo gallery can be found here DMBLGIT Jan2010

Well? What are you waiting for? Come on, send me your gorgeous photo entry. And thanks so much for your participations! Share

Think Vanilla roundup, and we've been adopted!

Just returned from a kind of last minute vacation. We went to India and met our families for a few days - and needless to say, ate like pigs! Since it was a short vacation, our moms were on a mission to feed us all our favourite dishes in that short span - 5 days at my place, and 5 at my in-laws. Of course we didn't complain, although we were eating almost every 2-3 hours! In the evenings, we would go out and eat some more!! Yeah, my jeans do realise that!

I am late in posting the round up for the Think Vanilla event. Unfortunately, I got a lukewarm response - just 5 entries. Hopefully I should have a better response for my next event - Does My Blog Look Good In This (DMBLGIT). I shall have another post on that later today.
Before I get to the roundup - another announcement that I am very happy about. Snacksgiving is being adopted! We shall have a blogger momma - Amanda of What we are eating and "Food Porn Daily". Adopt-a-Blogger is a wonderful program that allows newbies in the blogging world find their place and learn from the veterans. The 4th Adopt-a-Blogger is being hosted by Kristen of Dine and Dish. Thank you Amanda for adopting us!

Below is the round-up for the Think Vanilla event. Thank you to all who participated.

- Stone Fruit Tea Cake (Peach Tea Cake) from Taste Space

- Chocolate Truffle from A2Z Vegetarian Cuisine

- Cream Cheese Brownies from Malaysian Delicacies

- Bannana Buttermilk Pancake from Zesty South Indian Kitchen

- Lemon Yogurt Cake from MySpicyKitchen Share

Think Spice -Think Vanilla

"Think Spice". This is the name of the monthly event started by Sunita Bhuyan. Each month a different blog chooses a spice, and hosts the event. This month, I get to host it. And the spice I chose is Vanilla - the orchid plant producing the aromatic vanilla bean - the second most expensive spice in the world (after saffron).
When I had chosen this spice a couple of weeks ago while suggesting my blog for the event, I had been doing a lot of reading about it since I was kind of mesmerised with it's fragrance. I had used up a vanilla pod in a recipe and tossed the used up pod in my sugar canister. The soft, warming, vanilla fragrance that would wake me when I would open it to add sugar to my coffee kind of had me delirious for a few days!

A lot of us living in Switzerland are found groping for a couple of ingredients during our first few weeks of cooking here, which are almost staple in the rest of the world. Things like packed light brown sugar, dark brown sugar, cake flour, chocolate chips and of course vanilla extract! We get vanilla pods, and also vanilla sugar. But the extract has to be procured while on visits abroad!

While buying the extract or the pod, here are a few things I keep in mind
- Try picking up one with Madagascar-Bourbon bean
- Look for "pure" vanilla extract. Never one which says "vanilla essence". This would be cheap synthetically produced scent
- If buying a pod, see that it pliable and shiny
And of course, never ever throw away a used up pod. You can add it to your sugar to make vanilla sugar, or even a homemade vanilla extract!

So this is the theme for this month's "Think Spice". Onto the "rules".
1) Send me the recipes from your blog using vanilla in any form before 1-Feb-2010.

2) Mail me at snacksgiving[at]gmail[dot]com with the subject "Think Spice" with the following details
Your Name:
Blog Name:
Recipe Name and URL:

3) If you do not have a blog, just send in a picture

4) Link back to this post. If using an old blogpost, please update it with a link to this post as well.

5)Use the below logo if you like.









I will post a roundup in the beginning of the February.
Have fun! Share